OPEC lauds Azeri oil potential

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Oil production from Azerbaijan for 2010 is expected to increase more than any other former Soviet country, OPEC predicts.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in its November report said oil production from Azerbaijan will increase 0.13 million barrels per day in 2010. Kazakhstan, for its part, is expected to increase its oil production by 0.08 million barrels per day.

For the fourth quarter of 2009, the OPEC cartel expects Azerbaijan to produce 1.07 million barrels per day, the Trend news agency reports.

Proven crude oil reserves in Azerbaijan are estimated at 7 billion barrels. Most of its reserves lie in the offshore Azeri Chirag Guneshli field.

The ACG oil field is the third largest in the world as surveyed by the American IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Azerbaijan exports its Azeri light crude blend primarily to Turkish ports on the Mediterranean Sea through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the second longest in the world.